 Pre-season 2007/2008
Confidence was high at the Broadfield Stadium after Husband steered them away from relegation in his first job as manager. The signings of tommy forecast, Kieran Mckenna, Simon Cox, Keith barker, Gary Roundtree and toumani diagouraga meant the gaffer was in business. He announced to the squad they would play friendlies against the likes of Leicester, Stoke and Chelsea reserves, who would be playing at the Broadfield stadium. The fans could expect a star-studded yet skeptical pre-season ahead for their team. Before the stars turn out in Crawley, The team had to travel to Newport County for their first game.
It started well, early goals from Mirnes Ibrahimovic in the 3rd and newboy Keith Barker in the 7th, then Ibrahimovic committed a professional foul, elbowing an opposition player in the 13th minute and subsequently earning himself a red card and a 1 match ban. i decided to stick with a lone striker and paid off when right winger Joel Grant scored in first half stoppage time. 3 up at half time, everything looking rosy going into the second half. Newport made good use of the extra man and slotted home on the 61st. Changes made and two minutes after the the substitutions Newport scored again, flashbacks of the 2005 champions league final rushed through my head. In the 85th, Sub Rob Davies slotted home a header from a corner to clear my head of the thoughts of the final. In the four minutes added on Newport scored two, both ruled out for offside, i was one very relieved manager. 4-2 it finished.
Next game on the list was the first of three home games, Leicester City. With new signing tommy forecast still injured, I opted for 2nd choice keeper Rob Tolfrey. We found ourselves 1-0 down after just eight minutes, we played better after the goal but sloppy play in the 23rd minute gave them a second goal to celebrate. Fifteen minutes later they made it 3-0 and i wondered if we performed like this how many we would concede by half time, luckily we only went in three down. we came out second half much better than the first and had a few shots at the Leicester goal, on the 65th minute Leicester broke and made it 4-0. the fans decided to leave around the 70th minute mark and two minutes later they made it 5-0. I hoped no more goals and the game finished 5-0.
Next on the calender was Stoke City, sure i knew we wasn't going to win but i knew we had to play better and hoped we wouldn't have a drubbing like the last game. The team started well until the 25th minute when we gave the ball away and with Stoke' first shot on target went in. We managed to get to half-time with the score at 1-0. i was happy that we had controlled most of the game and limited the opposition to a few chances. I decided to bring on Ibrahimovic, the clubs top scorer last season with 35 goals. it was to no avail and we just couldn't put anything in the back of the net, on the 65th minute we had an injury and two minutes after the substitution Stoke made us pay for our inconsistency in front of goal by scoring, to make things worse 2 minutes after the restart they came at us and banged home a third. i hand thanked the fans for staying a bit longer than the last game even though it was only an extra ten minutes, this time they began to leave after 80 minutes. we managed to keep possession and keep the score 3-0.
Before the next game i shared a joke with the player's and the management, telling them Chelsea were relishing the opportunity to play at the Broadfield Stadium, even if if was just the reserves. After we had let our fantastic fans down in the last two games, both with attendances over 1500, i didn't wonder why only 213 people turned up for the game. I was finally able to play my new signing tommy forecast and i hoped they would go easy on us but they scored after just four minutes. Once again we had plenty of chances but just couldn't out any away and they punished us on the 21st but adding a second. We got into half time happy with the performance and went out for the second half hopeful. Starting the half with some good passing and a few shots we still couldn't break the Chelsea defense. They slotted home a third goal shortly after the 65th minute and to everybody's delight new boy toumani diagouraga drove in a 70th minute goal to finally give the fans something to cheer about. After the goal we played much better, creating chances and limiting the opposition. The game ended 3-1, i was relieved to have scored more than anything else and i was sorry for the fans who had not seen us score in the two previos games.
We start our season with a home tie against Forest Green on Saturday 11th August at 1500 hours. To get your tickets call:01293 410000 5pound for adults, 2 pound for children and OAP's
Last edited by kopking2006; 11-05-07 at 02:14 PM. | 
